Dave262
17-07-2007, 12:29 PM
Hi all,
I'm just after a bit of an opinion of what I should do here... I've got a few fairly major problems with the TP right now... so serious to the point that I'm worried about driving more than 15 mins in it now...
Some of you might know that I haven't had the greatest luck with this car, and that luck has since remained unchanged. Before I inherited the car (didn't cost me a cent!), it had apparently been sitting in the driveway without being used for nearly a year. It had then been thrashed heavily for about 3 months, before being left unused in the driveway again due to some major engine and suspension issues.
After getting the car, I had it roadworthied, which only required most the suspension bushings to be replaced and every tyre replaced. About 2 months later, it started eating through water, running poorly, and smoking a fair bit, which turned out to be a major head gasket leak in cylinder 4. The head was removed and the gasket replaced, and the valve stem seals were also replaced. Internally from a visual inspection, everything looked fine. Just a little rust on the piston face in the fourth cylinder, which has all disappeared now. The rings are fine, as are the valves. The oxygen sensor was also replaced at this stage. The rear shockers failed, and I did a 2 wheeler around a fairly sharp corner as a result (only at 50k/h!), which made me replace those as soon as I could.
A little while after this both the centre and main muffler caved in, and restricted the flow so much, that it took me 15 seconds to get from 0 - 60! I had both mufflers replaced (the cat converter was fine). I then had issues with my transmission slipping, which turned out to be that the oil required a change, as it had been filled with some cheap crappy no-name fluid, which was not doing much good for it. This was changed, along with a new transmission filter. The economy then became worse and worse, and I discovered that the injectors seemed to be sticking, so I got some blue top ones from a second gen, which solved the problem and brought the economy back down from the 18+ L/100k down to about 13L/100k. I then installed a set of roller rockers from a second gen, which brought the economy down to 11L/100k. Then out of nowhere suddenly fuel economy jumped back up to about 15L/100k, due to the TPS failing. I replaced this and it went back down to 13L/100k. I then found that the atmospheric sensor in the AFM was faulty, so I replaced this and the economy went back down to 10L/100k. Soon after it went back up to about 16L/100k again, and I discovered the coolant temperature sensor had also failed. Replaced this and it went back down to about 12L/100k. The front shockers then blew on the car, and had to be replaced. By this stage when I had to get the brakes replaced, they discovered that one of the rear shockers had blown again, as there was shock absorber oil everywhere. Luckily this was replaced under warranty, as they had only been in there for 3 months.
Just recently, economy has gone all the way up to about 17-18L/100k, and most of it seems to be due to the timing chain guides almost cut through. It is also vibrating horrendously, which is really annoying. Engine mounts for the past 8 months have only been lasting for about 2 weeks at the most (I stopped replacing them after 3 sets). While working underneath the car I noticed that the bump stops on the front shockers are disintegrated, and going over bumps the wheels sometimes slam into the top of the wheel well. Also the drivers side wheel has some massive castor on it (wheel is really close to the front side of the wheel well). The wheel currently sits about 2cm from the front of the wheel well, and scrapes whenever I hit a bump while turning a corner. I had the suspension checked at pedders, and they indicated that the crossmember had been bent, and was actually from a TM/TN, and that this crossmember is actually not the same as the TP one (it has bolt holes etc. in slightly different positions, and is weaker). I have managed to source a new main crossmember and centre member, and am replacing it and getting the chains fixed this week. The ECU has also been replaced as it was misfiring injectors and reading sensor inputs incorrectly.
The most recent problems other than the crossmember and the chains however is that it is leaking oil like crazy from the oil pressure switch (cheap fix I know), which is managing to lose about half a sump of oil in about 15 minutes of driving! The front of the sump is also leaking oil, as is the distributor where it connects into the engine. It also appears to have been leaking from around the rear end seal too, although I cannot confirm this until I have a chance to remove the plate from the end of the transmission to check the main drive plate. The car is leaking the oil all over the extractors, and as such is smoking off quite severely, so much so that when I stop at traffic lights there is smoke coming out from under the bonnet. The PCV vent lines I have put fuel filter inline to help stop large amounts of oil being dumped into the throttle body. They have been working really well. However... looking inside these filters, there is a large amount of creamy white-coloured oil, which to me suggests there is water in the oil, so I now fear that there is either a crack somewhere in the cylinder or head block, there is a leaky head gasket, or the water jacket under the timing cover is leaking.
I just don't know what to do! I am trying to keep it going till next year when I plan on getting a new car (unlikely a Mitsubishi, as you can understand from what I've experienced!), although these problems are really making me wonder if it would even survive that long! It's hard to believe, but this comes from a car that was serviced by Mitsubishi mechanics, and looked after it's whole life, until it was left in a driveway for a year. It has only done 140,000km!!!
What should I do?!?! :cry:
I'm just after a bit of an opinion of what I should do here... I've got a few fairly major problems with the TP right now... so serious to the point that I'm worried about driving more than 15 mins in it now...
Some of you might know that I haven't had the greatest luck with this car, and that luck has since remained unchanged. Before I inherited the car (didn't cost me a cent!), it had apparently been sitting in the driveway without being used for nearly a year. It had then been thrashed heavily for about 3 months, before being left unused in the driveway again due to some major engine and suspension issues.
After getting the car, I had it roadworthied, which only required most the suspension bushings to be replaced and every tyre replaced. About 2 months later, it started eating through water, running poorly, and smoking a fair bit, which turned out to be a major head gasket leak in cylinder 4. The head was removed and the gasket replaced, and the valve stem seals were also replaced. Internally from a visual inspection, everything looked fine. Just a little rust on the piston face in the fourth cylinder, which has all disappeared now. The rings are fine, as are the valves. The oxygen sensor was also replaced at this stage. The rear shockers failed, and I did a 2 wheeler around a fairly sharp corner as a result (only at 50k/h!), which made me replace those as soon as I could.
A little while after this both the centre and main muffler caved in, and restricted the flow so much, that it took me 15 seconds to get from 0 - 60! I had both mufflers replaced (the cat converter was fine). I then had issues with my transmission slipping, which turned out to be that the oil required a change, as it had been filled with some cheap crappy no-name fluid, which was not doing much good for it. This was changed, along with a new transmission filter. The economy then became worse and worse, and I discovered that the injectors seemed to be sticking, so I got some blue top ones from a second gen, which solved the problem and brought the economy back down from the 18+ L/100k down to about 13L/100k. I then installed a set of roller rockers from a second gen, which brought the economy down to 11L/100k. Then out of nowhere suddenly fuel economy jumped back up to about 15L/100k, due to the TPS failing. I replaced this and it went back down to 13L/100k. I then found that the atmospheric sensor in the AFM was faulty, so I replaced this and the economy went back down to 10L/100k. Soon after it went back up to about 16L/100k again, and I discovered the coolant temperature sensor had also failed. Replaced this and it went back down to about 12L/100k. The front shockers then blew on the car, and had to be replaced. By this stage when I had to get the brakes replaced, they discovered that one of the rear shockers had blown again, as there was shock absorber oil everywhere. Luckily this was replaced under warranty, as they had only been in there for 3 months.
Just recently, economy has gone all the way up to about 17-18L/100k, and most of it seems to be due to the timing chain guides almost cut through. It is also vibrating horrendously, which is really annoying. Engine mounts for the past 8 months have only been lasting for about 2 weeks at the most (I stopped replacing them after 3 sets). While working underneath the car I noticed that the bump stops on the front shockers are disintegrated, and going over bumps the wheels sometimes slam into the top of the wheel well. Also the drivers side wheel has some massive castor on it (wheel is really close to the front side of the wheel well). The wheel currently sits about 2cm from the front of the wheel well, and scrapes whenever I hit a bump while turning a corner. I had the suspension checked at pedders, and they indicated that the crossmember had been bent, and was actually from a TM/TN, and that this crossmember is actually not the same as the TP one (it has bolt holes etc. in slightly different positions, and is weaker). I have managed to source a new main crossmember and centre member, and am replacing it and getting the chains fixed this week. The ECU has also been replaced as it was misfiring injectors and reading sensor inputs incorrectly.
The most recent problems other than the crossmember and the chains however is that it is leaking oil like crazy from the oil pressure switch (cheap fix I know), which is managing to lose about half a sump of oil in about 15 minutes of driving! The front of the sump is also leaking oil, as is the distributor where it connects into the engine. It also appears to have been leaking from around the rear end seal too, although I cannot confirm this until I have a chance to remove the plate from the end of the transmission to check the main drive plate. The car is leaking the oil all over the extractors, and as such is smoking off quite severely, so much so that when I stop at traffic lights there is smoke coming out from under the bonnet. The PCV vent lines I have put fuel filter inline to help stop large amounts of oil being dumped into the throttle body. They have been working really well. However... looking inside these filters, there is a large amount of creamy white-coloured oil, which to me suggests there is water in the oil, so I now fear that there is either a crack somewhere in the cylinder or head block, there is a leaky head gasket, or the water jacket under the timing cover is leaking.
I just don't know what to do! I am trying to keep it going till next year when I plan on getting a new car (unlikely a Mitsubishi, as you can understand from what I've experienced!), although these problems are really making me wonder if it would even survive that long! It's hard to believe, but this comes from a car that was serviced by Mitsubishi mechanics, and looked after it's whole life, until it was left in a driveway for a year. It has only done 140,000km!!!
What should I do?!?! :cry: